Now I just need the sales

What I thought was one of my best qualities is turning out to be my worst nightmare; telesales. I am here looking for advice on what to do next.

I have set up a good service, a good product and the market is huge. So what is the service you might ask? You've heard it a thousand and one times before: SEO. My target audience are business owners who's website do not rank on the first page of Google for keywords that are probably the single most important for their traffic generation. For example: "Plumber Buffalo NY".

I know how to convince business owners of the direct benefits of ranking on the first page of Google for these highly converting search terms. I also know that there is a market out there and that business ARE being convinced through cold calls to buy these services and end up as very happy customers. I also have three unique key points that make me stand out from the competition (namely big SEO companies that cold call often).

So just pick up the phone and call right?

I have and I failed. Why? The language barrier. I am a Dutch native and I am also based in the Netherlands. My English is pretty good and I even get compliments from Americans along the lines of "wow, you almost have no accent". However, there is a huge difference between speaking freely and making a sales call in another language. As soon as the call actually becomes a conversation where I can't read of the script anymore, I just can't string it together. And when you're struggling to maintain a conversation, you just killed your sales opportunity.

Outsourcing sales

The first thing that came to mind to tackle this problem was just outsource sales. As I can't afford to pay much at the moment, it would have to be on a commission only basis, where the sales rep gets a percentage of the sale made. Is it a good idea to do this? The process would be something like this:

This is what I have in mind. Does it actually work like that? Do business owners buy services like these over the phone? How many followups are needed? Meeting in person is not going to be a possibility.

I was also thinking that the independent sales rep should get his own email address like mike@mycompany.com, just so he can fully close sales on his own. Otherwise it would be lead generation and I can't pay him if sales are not made.

Now I have two more questions:

1). How many cold leads are needed for let's say 15 decent conversations with a DM? I called about 30 businesses today and surprisingly only a couple actually picked up the phone and most of those had no DM present.

2). How many independent sales reps should I hire? I've read online that you should always over-hire. However, if I'd hire 10 guys and give them 60 cold leads each, that's 600 cold leads a day which is insane and impossible for me to scrape. Generating these leads takes about 4 minutes each as I need to determine some stats about the site, business and Google keywords.

I am really looking forward to your answers. I know there are some great offline entrepreneurs and cold callers on this forum and I would really appreciate some advice on these issues.

There are some expectations on the numbers you'll need to learn. Also, you must have a consistent sales process. "Flying by the seat of the pants" doesn't get you anywhere. Sometimes you'll get lucky, but you'll never know why. I've made videos about these topics:

15 x 4 = at least 60 dials to get 15 opportunities for conversations. Most calls are begun so badly there isn't a "rest of the call."

You need to learn three things about your prospect. Do they have a need for your product or service? Do they have the budget for it? Can you work with their personality? These questions will lead your conversation.

As soon as the call actually becomes a conversation where I can't read of the script anymore, I just can't string it together. And when you're struggling to maintain a conversation, you just killed your sales opportunity.

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i never ever recommend this ... but smoke a bowl or take a shot
your are too smart ... turn your brain off

cold call OR email. ... not both.
the ones who respond are NOT the ones who respond to the other.

that was a mouthful .. do you understand?

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This is what I have in mind. Does it actually work like that? Do business owners buy services like these over the phone? How many followups are needed? Meeting in person is not going to be a possibility.

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yes business DO buy on the phone ..

the first time not the tenth or the third, the first.

one call one close ... words to live bye

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I was also thinking that the independent sales rep should get his own email address like mike@mycompany.com, just so he can fully close sales on his own. Otherwise it would be lead generation and I can't pay him if sales are not made.

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bad choice of words.You mean YOUR EMPLOYEE

also people are not gods, sales people are not better ..or smarter ... then you

they are just people. some ARE smarter, some ARE better ...
but ... they are just people .... like you ... like your neighbor

What I'm going to do next is make calls consistently next week. Though that was not even POSSIBLE because of my phone skills in English but I just need to keep on doing it and find a way to be at least decent at it.

Also getting into the mindset of 'trying to learn a new skill' rather than trying to make sales / money is good. Ultimately I want to outsource it to sales people anyway but I'd be a crappy manager without in field experience.

Wow, I bet you could have paid a high dollar sales coach 10K and would not have gotten a better response than Ken Michaels response. And not to take away from the other responses because their superb.

But I can relate b/c like you, Candex...I tend to over think stuff sometimes and on top of that I'm not an extrovert.

Nonetheless, I've also been drawn to sales. Everyone in my family used to tell me I was crazy but over the years I've managed to put out some big numbers and it all goes back to this statement that Ken threw out there at you...

Originally Posted by kenmichaels

your are too smart ... turn your brain off

Long story short sales is about activity, if you put out enough activity your subconscious will forget about the excuses and you'll just do it. Believe me, if you stay in it long enough, you'll get the sales.

The key is staying in the game and not over analyzing stuff.

Let me tell you something really funny, before I shut up. One time I was in a very rural part of town, selling corporate supply memberships to businesses and after I spit up this meticulous benefits analysis. This country boy asked me, "So tell me this, is it bitter (better)?" I was like, yip...sure is. It's just better."

And he bought the membership. After that whenever I was in that area and having a hard time closing, I'd think back to good ole Bob. And for good measure I'd be like..."Look here, it's just better."

Didn't work everytime but what it taught me is that if you say something with enough confidence ppl will just buy from you...cause don't forget - they're buying you!